This one is for Engie. A few weeks ago she suggested I post about the best and worst cookies (apparently she has – and I quote – “STRONG feelings”). I didn’t get around to writing this post before Christmas, but thankfully cookies are a treat that can be enjoyed the whole year through.
I’ll admit I don’t have incredibly strong preferences. Truth be told, cookies are one of my least-favourite desserts. Give me cake or brownies or a fancy square over cookies any day. That said, my arm can be squeezed to eat a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie still warm and gooey from the oven.
While I’m hosting this Top Five/Bottom Five, I’ll leave it up to you to bring the fierce debates! Or, just show up to hear Engie sound off in the comments.
MY TOP FIVE FAVOURITE COOKIES
- “Ginger Sparklers“. This is a specific extra-buttery ginger cookie recipe I got years ago from a church friend. They’re my all-time favourite cookie (and produce my all-time favourite cookie dough). As always, I double the spices. So good.
- Fall Chocolate Chip Spiced Cookie. My second favourite is ALSO a ginger recipe but with a twist since this one involves chocolate.
- Chocolate chip cookies (with caveats). They must be soft. They must be buttery. And, preferably, they should still be warm. Fresh from the oven I find them hard to resist; beyond that, I’m mostly Meh about chocolate chip cookies. Alas, despite trying MANY recipes over the years, I haven’t found the “perfect” version yet.
- Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (baked by my neighbour). Peanut butter and chocolate. Sign me up. Our neighbour makes the BEST version of PB chocolate chip cookies. (Peanut butter thumbprint cookies with jam are also delicious.)
- Shortbread. A really good shortbread cookie is just…divine.
Bonus: I promise I’m not just doing this to tick NGS off…but I love cookies with candy cane or peppermint. There. I said it. She now has reason to argue vociferously in the comments. Unfortunately, my husband and son find these flavours repulsive so I rarely eat cookies with candy cane or peppermint in them (or mint chocolate ice cream for that matter; of course I could buy/make these things just for myself but it doesn’t feel as fun somehow).
MY BOTTOM FIVE COOKIES
- Snickerdoodles. They just don’t taste right.
- Coconut oatmeal cookies. They’re dry and have a weird texture. Ugh. No thank you.
- Cookies with raisins. I really like raisins, but THEY DO NOT BELONG IN COOKIES. That is why God inspired someone to invent chocolate chips. Chocolate chips in cookies = happy; raisins in cookies = depressing. Down with the raisins, I say.
- Cookies with cranberries. Unlike raisins, I just generally despise cranberries (or Craisins; they’re still cranberries, folks). Cookies with cranberries get a hard pass from me.
- Hard/chewy ginger cookies. Let me explain. TWO ginger cookie mentions were listed in my Top Five, but on the opposite end of the spectrum, nothing is more distressing to me than a poorly made ginger cookie. I don’t love gingersnaps, but they’re okay. But what I cannot tolerate is ginger cookies that are dense/tough/overly chewy. I don’t know how to describe what I mean – but instead of being buttery and soft, they’re dry (not crunchy or crispy or thin), they’re thick, and they require excessive chewing.
There you have it – my Top Five/Bottom Five Cookies. I should also mention that I almost always enjoy eating cookie dough more than I enjoy eating the baked cookies!
Your turn. Yes or no to peppermint? What about raisins? Does anyone else revere ginger cookies like I do (but despise tough/chewy ones)? Do you prefer cookies or cake? Do you eat cookie dough (with raw eggs)? John thinks it is GROSS.
Header photo by Fernanda Martinez on Unsplash
Jenny
Oooh how exciting!!! I’ll start off by saying that as a recovering sugar-holic, I pretty much loved any and all cookies back in the day, but now never eat them (unless it’s some sort of healthy “breakfast” cookie.). I know it sounds sad… but I still enjoy baking them! I love the way they smell, and they make my family happy. So, probably #1 all-time favorite is chocolate chip cookies. #2 would be a ginger cookie (I baked several batches over the holidays and they smelled SO GOOD.) #3 Peanut butter, preferably with chocolate chips. Not sure how to proceed from there- snickerdoodles are good, as are cookies with peppermint (sorry Engie!) I made “peppermint snowballs” over the holidays and they smelled amazing, and my daughter loved them. I also make orange-chocolate chip biscotti every Christmas, and everyone loves them!
I can’t wait to see what other people have to say… I love talking about cookies.
Elisabeth
Peanut butter and chocolate is just one of the best flavour combos IN THE WORLD. I can’t imagine life without loving chocolate.
I have to admit I’m not a fan of either biscotti or orange with chocolate…but now I’m really wanting to try your baked item as it really does sound yummy when you describe it.
Nicole MacPherson
I love peppermint in anything. I am more of a savoury person but I do like the occasional cookie – I guess I’ll say gingersnaps are my favourite. I like chocolate-based cookies (chips, etc) but honestly, when it comes to cookies I don’t really have many feelings about them. I can take or leave them.
Elisabeth
I’m mostly this way about cookies; aside from fresh and soft and warm + cookie dough, I can very easily say no to most cookies.
Beckett @ Birchwood Pie
Thank you for addressing this important topic.
Ginger – we are twins. If they’re soft and cuddly I’m in, and if they’re hard – ugh, I’m having some strong and very unpleasant flashbacks to my childhood. ‘Nuff said.
Chocolate chip cookies need to be soft, otherwise it’s just a waste of everyone’s time. I got some Walker’s shortbread for Christmas and it was divine. Yes it’s the easiest thing in the world to make shortbread but I’d never get anywhere near as good as Walkers.
I’ll go to bat for an oatmeal raisin cookie or a white chocolate and cranberry cookie any day. I understand that this is an unpopular opinion, but there’s no need to fight. If anyone tries to give you those cookies, just send them to me and I will take care of them for you.
Elisabeth
I am here to bring up the truly pressing matters of our generation.
Soft and cuddly (and buttery) ginger cookies are the best. Hands down in my opinion. I think I find some chocolate chip cookies too sweet, but the bitter hint of molasses and all those spices really balance out the flavour profile for me.
I won’t fight and you can have any and all cookies with raisins and cranberries from me!
NGS
In general, I am a cookie purist. I don’t want your dumb “healthy” things in my cookies – take your raisins, your oatmeal, your sugar substitutes and put them in actual healthy things, not cookies. Oatmeal raisin cookies? Gross. Raisins in chocolate chip cookies? You’re a monster.
I also do NOT think I should worry about chipping a tooth when I’m eating cookies so get out of here with all you people adding candy cane bits and random nuts and those terrible cinnamon orbs that are always stale. Also, peppermint candy is fine, but peppermint cookies are SO GROSS. Like, no. I don’t want sugar and toothpaste, thanks.
What do I want in a cookie? Basically anything else. Chocolate. Peanut butter. Molasses. Spices. Butter. Sugar. Butterscotch. Lots of vanilla. You know, cookie things. I am also not even a snob about texture. I have a molasses cookie I make that is pretty cakey. My chocolate chip recipe leans itself toward a flat, crispy edged cookie. It’s quite good. Chewy, cakey, crispy. I’ll take it all.
I think I admitted in this very comment space that one of my secret shames is how often I eat uncooked cookie dough straight out of the freezer. I say that I make extra dough and put it in the freezer so that if I’m invited somewhere unexpectedly I can always bring a dozen cookies with me, but the truth is that I just love to be able to eat it whenever I want. Team raw cookie dough forever and ever.
Elisabeth
I mostly agree with you there – raisins and oatmeal and even coconut are just…not my fave in cookies.
What are the cinnamon orbs you mention? Are these a US-only phenomenon? I have no idea what these are.
Lots of vanilla is key. And butter. And brown sugar. Yum. Now I’m hungry. I prefer flat and crispy edged (but barely-done-in-the-middle chocolate chip cookies).
And Team Raw Cookie Dough is the winning team. We all know it.
Sarah
I love all cookies. EXCEPT. The coffee shop by my office makes an M&M raisin cookie that defies logic and tastebuds. I like raisin cookies. I like M&M cookies. Together? TERRIBLE.
BEST:
1. Classic chocolate chip, double the chocolate chips
2. Monster cookies
3. Peanut butter Hershey kiss cookies
4. Frosted chai spiced snickerdoodles (from Sally’s Baking Addiction)
5. Classic chocolate chip but with TJ’s mini peanut butter cups instead of chocolate chips— also chocolate cookies with PB M&Ms
Elisabeth
I’ve never had Monster cookies.
Mmm. PB Hershey kisses cookies are good but I haven’t had them in YEARS. Should make those in 2024.
Lisa's Yarns
I LOVE cookies. I would much rather have a cookie than a piece of cake or even a brownie. We make cookie cakes in our house for birthdays and I am so glad my boys are on board with it. It’s more festive than putting a candle in a single cookie (which I have done in the past). My boys also seem to prefer cookies to all other desserts. I don’t know if that is nurture or nature.
Best:
1. Chocolate chip cookies – they need to be soft/tender. I do not like crisp cookies.
2. Chocolate chocolate cookies. Paul calls them “black cookies.”
3. Monster cookies (which can be easily made GF as my mom has a recipe that doesn’t include flour!).
4. Kiss cookies (although I have not tried making them GF).
5. Gingerbread cookies (also have not tried to make these GF).
Worst:
1. Anything with peppermint (I don’t like peppermint at all… like I won’t eat peppermint candies or eat candy canes. Bleh as my toddler would say.)
2. Anything with raisins.
3. Anything with dates (are you noticing a trend?).
4. Anything with fruit preserves – my grandma would make these thumb print cookies and I think she would put jam preserves in the thumb print (I’m really stretching to think of more cookies…)
I can’t come up with a 5th. I do eat raw cookie dough. I don’t eat it much anymore, but I do like the batter off the spoon when cleaning out the bowl. I have not gotten sick so it must be fine? Once when I was a kid, my mom bought a big tub of choc chip cookie dough from some fundraiser. I kept taking a little bit, and a little bit, and a little bit… and eventually I ate the whole dang thing!! Gulp.
Elisabeth
That’s so interesting you enjoy cookies so much! I grew up in a household where cookies were a staple, but they’re not my favourite dessert at all!
Oh I love peppermint in many things. It’s just such a nice *kiss* to most desserts, but I know it is a love/hate relationship.
Raw cookie dough is just so, so good. I don’t make cookies very often (average of once a month or maybe every two months), but when I do…the dough is my favourite part!
ccr in MA
Mmm, cookies! I am there for a good cookie talk. I love:
* chocolate chip cookies; our recipe has oats in it, but it’s not for health reasons, it just elevates the cookies from too-soft/soggy to chewy and light.
* gingersnaps; I have a recipe cut out of the newspaper decades ago, and they are so good cooled down but amazing fresh from the oven.
* molasses cookies, Grandma’s recipe!
* chocolate chip meringues, do they count as cookies?
* shortbread when it was made by our 90-ish Scottish neighbor, but she’s back in Canada now and no one else’s is as good
* I don’t like regular oatmeal raisin cookies much, but Trader Joe’s has some that are small cookies with little tiny bits of raisin and I love those.
* I’ll take a chocolate cookie with white chocolate chips!
* toffee chip cookies, yum
* I have fond memories of snickerdoodles but I haven’t made them in a long time, so there may be some nostalgia there.
As for not liking cookies, well, there is very little I won’t take if offered. I’m not a huge fan of peanut butter cookies. I’m drawing a blank on whether I’ve ever tried mint cookies, other than Girl Scout Thin Mints of course–do love those!
Elisabeth
Shortbread made by the right person is practically perfect. It is NOT all equal.
Toffee chip cookies sound amazing.
Joy
I can feel exactly what you mean by the wrong kind of ginger cookie 😄. I’ll have to make us some peppermint cookies/bark for the next White Christmas viewing!
Elisabeth
YES PLEASE! I live under a strict anti-peppermint regime over here – haha.
Lindsay
I love this post. This is the exact topic I need in my life. My cookie philosophy is I am of the mind where I would love all my chocolate chip cookies served medium rare (warm, soft-chewy (not tough, forcing chews), barely baked) and slightly salted.
1. I like a soft peppermint candy. I don’t love a strongly flavored peppermint cookie. As my daughter used to say, “It minty burns!”
2. I don’t think I’ve had a raisin in a cookie in years. This may be a personal preference, but it also might just be a trend?
3. I love a soft, chewy ginger cookie! I am not really into crispy cookies or tough ones (ginger SNAPS are not my thing)
4. Cookies are highly superior to cake for me, but I am not totally onboard with cake because of the mushiness and the overly sweetness of most frosting
5. I do eat cookie dough. All cookie dough. A favorite treat is treating myself to a scoop of frozen cookie dough like it’s ice cream. (Don’t tell John!!)
Elisabeth
I rarely have frozen cookie dough…but you’re all giving me some good ideas! Oh cookie dough, how I love thee. Our kids also love cookie dough, much to J’s horror. I’ve managed to survive this long.
MEDIUM RARE. THIS IS THE MOST BRILLIANT DESCRIPTION EVER. I am stealing this moving forward because I think it’s genius. Yes, yes, yes. Medium rare. That’s how I like most of my cookies, too (my ginger sparklers are best when they come out and the centers are still a bit gooey – they firm up but it’s soooo soft).
I do love a good slice of cake. Carrot with cream cheese frosting? Sign me up! Chocolate with PB frosting. Yes, please. Unbaked Cherry Cheesecake – BEST DESSERT EVER.
Suzanne
While cookies aren’t particularly exciting to me, I wholeheartedly agree with your soft/vs hard ginger cookie assessment. They are spectacular when soft, but not so much when crispy.
I could take or leave snickerdoodles, but I LOVE chocolate snickerdoodles. I didn’t know they existed until my daughter requested them a few years back, but they are so delicious.
DOWN WITH RAISINS. I refuse to eat raisins in any form and they RUIN perfectly good cookies. I also hate shredded coconut, so macaroons would make my bottom five list. I also really don’t get the hype about shortbread. It’s a hard pass for me.
Elisabeth
Good shortbread is amazing (to me), mediocre shortbread is a waste of perfectly good butter.
Chocolate snickerdoodles. I’m intrigued…
I like raisins in oatmeal – it’s okay if you turn away in horror – and granola, but that’s about it. But not in my cookies. Coconut is so-so for me. I don’t hate it but I don’t go out of my way to have it. I have zero in my house right now and it could stay that way for years. My kids LOVE these chocolate “haystacks” with coconut, so I tend to have it around for making those.
Gigi
I can usually take or leave cookies. But if I had to be hard pressed into an answer, currently my favorites are gingersnaps (yes, crispy but yet a little gooey – does that even make sense) and peanut butter crisscross cookies.
I don’t mind a hint of peppermint in Christmas cookies; but wouldn’t tolerate it at any other time of the year.
Generally, I’m not a huge fan of raisins but, I have found THE perfect oatmeal raisin cookie recipe – so as long as it’s that one, I will eat it. Otherwise, hard pass.
Elisabeth
Wow – a perfect cookie recipe does sound hard to say no to…maybe even if it has raisins in it?
J
I’m also not a big cookie eater, but of course if they are in the house I will likely eat them. I’m not a big fan of cake either. I prefer a good berry pie or ice cream, or ideally, both. Or ice cream with fruit. Or a sundae. Or cheesecake. Anyway, that is not what you asked.
Top 5 Cookies
Chocolate Chip – my daughter makes some really yummy ones. We agree, raw dough is better than the baked product, though I have heard of the occasional horrific story of illness after eating it, so I try to refrain myself if I can. I think it’s the flour more than the egg, actually. I prefer homemade, like my daughter’s, but I’m not above eating chips ahoy with a glass of milk either. Very different. Kind of like wanting Taco Bell vs. wanting Mexican food.
Thumbprint Cookies or Tea Sandwich cookies. Butter and vanilla, a soft cookie, with raspberry jam. Yum.
Shortbread. Absolutely divine, and I am very happy with walkers.
Oatmeal raisin. I love a good oatmeal raisin cookie. Must be soft. Best if there is a hint of cinnamon in it. I think if I had a choice between a good oatmeal raisin cookie and a good chocolate chip cooking, I would go oatmeal raisin.
Mexican wedding cookies. (Is that what they’re called? That’s what I’ve heard them called.) Almond and powdered sugar mostly I guess.
Bottom 5 Cookies
Anything with white chocolate. Blah.
Snickerdoodles.
Oreos. (I know, store bought. But they’re kind of gross.)
Peanut Butter cookies. I’m lying on this one, they’re OK, I just don’t think I would usually pick them and I’m struggling to come up with something.
I can’t think of any other kind of cookies. I’m not sure if I’ve ever had one with peppermint in it, so I don’t know if I would like that or not.
Elisabeth
I can mostly pass on ice cream, but cheesecake is CALLING MY NAME.
I know some people who love Oreos, but basically all store-purchased cookies are a pass for me.
I’ve never had Mexican wedding cookies, but they look good. I think Kae just made a set when she was in…Mexico!
Can I admit I am now really, really craving cookie dough…
Joy
I’m with you on molasses ginger cookies–they are definitely in my top five and I prefer them melting in my mouth. Several years ago, I accidentally discovered that if I wrap hard cookies in foil and pop them in my toaster oven until they are warm, they are soft and melty again. A happy discovery!
I adore the cookies my grandmother made for my grandfather when I was a kid. After she died, I inherited her cookie cookbook and found the recipe. The original is old-fashioned hermits, apparently a New England recipe, with spices, cold coffee, and (sorry for those who hate raisins) raisins or dates. My grandmother jazzed them up with additional chocolate chips and butterscotch chips. She kept the cookie jar full for my grandfather and for us, too. I’m sure at least 50% of this is nostalgia but I still adore making and eating them.
Good shortbread is a big yes. I like Walkers, too, but I also love homemade made with the very best butter. They are melt-in-the-mouth deliciousness.
Chocolate chip cookies are always a pleasure, especially with dark chocolate chips. I occasionally add dried cherries with the nuts for a cherry-chocolate combo that is delicious. I prefer them made with butter rather than shortening but will eat them either way.
I’m so-so on peanut butter, oatmeal raisin, and plain sugar cookies/snickerdoodles. I won’t turn them down but I also won’t walk down the street for them. Grocery store cookies are the worst. I mean, what’s the point in wasting my calories on sub-par cookies. Except for Walkers. 🙂
Such a fun topic! Thanks for getting the conversation going.
Elisabeth
Flavours from childhood are some of the strongest draws, so I 100% get this! I have an aunt that used to bake for a living and her shortbread is just *chef’s kiss*
I also prefer cookies made with butter vs. shortening. And almost always brown sugar vs. white.
I agree about grocery store cookies; I have basically zero desire to eat them.
Ernie
I read this yesterday while feeding a baby a bottle and I could not use my hands to type a comment, but I feel like I must reach out to Lisa of Lisa’s Yarns to request the GF flourless monster cookie recipe. 😉
I, too, love that you are covering this essential topic.
I don’t really eat cookies anymore, because of celiac – but I do make them. I wonder if my family would object to me baking a new kind of cookie. My chocolate chip cookies are very popular in these parts. All the kids friends know of them. I use them to thank people for rides or to celebrate friends’ birthdays or to feed groups of teens when they come over. I love ice cream and other GF desserts, hello flourless cake. I loved cookies back when I could eat them. I admit I’m not a big fan of ginger cookies. I bought some to use as a crust for a chiffon layered pumpkin pie and some of my kids were very excited. I had no idea they liked ginger cookies so much. I bought a bag of GF ginger cookies so that I can make a GF version of the dessert because everyone loves it so much. I don’t feel like they were mentioned here, but I love an old fashioned sugar cookie. My grandma’s peanut butter cookies were awesome, but she liked to keep an apple slice in the cookie tin to keep the cookies soft. Ick – that might be a cookie saving hack, but I felt it ruined the cookies. I do like peppermint or mint – I’m fine with it in cookies, but I love it in ice cream and I made a delicious peppermint ice cream dessert for Christmas that is heavenly.
Elisabeth
I am literally salivating over the thought of a peppermint ice cream dessert. YUM.
I’m fine with sugar cookies, but don’t go out of my way to have them and NEVER make them. They weren’t a cookie my mom made, so I think without a sentimental attachment to them, I’m neutral?
And flourless chocolate cake is SO good. I haven’t made one in ages and should do that ASAP. So rich and gooey and delicious. Now I’m salivating again 🙂
Melissa
I never got into sweet ginger things … I mean I can eat them, but they wouldn’t be my first choice. Top cookies would be choc-chip, and especially the chocolate triple choc-chip cookie, although these I probably should avoid now because it will be an overload of chocolate and may spark a migraine. BUT the choc chip cookies must be soft and fudgey. After that I love Snicker doodles, my homemade oreo cookies (both also softish cookies). Fourth would be yo-yo’s. and then a homemade montecarlo. I definately eat cookie dough.
Elisabeth
Homemade oreos. Wow, now that sounds delicious.
Sara
Listen, I don’t discriminate. But the compost cookie is my all time favorite. Potato chips in cookies, um YES. I loooove sweet and salty mixed. Pretzels and pb and chocolate in a cookie SIGN ME UP.
Elisabeth
Sweet and salty is my FAVOURITE (John’s is sweet and spicy, but I don’t like spice so I am all about the sweet/salt). Yum. I’ve had chocolate covered chips before and they were amazing.
san
Absolutely YES to peppermint (although I don’t think I’ve had it in cookies – but I love peppermint mocha and peppermint chocolate, so…!).
My favorite cookies are spritz cookies and almond crescent cookies. My least favorite are anything “chewy”, I like my cookies hard and crumbly 🙂
Elisabeth
I am currently sipping coffee with peppermint mocha creamer and it is…delicious.